It really is a disease….

Recently I have had the privilege of attending some AA meetings with a friend (some of them are open meetings.) And to say that I have been overwhelmed would be an understatement. For a long time, I wasn’t convinced that alcoholism was a disease. But after attending these meetings I am convinced.

I have heard stories of people having their first drink at the age of 13 and from that first drink, they were hooked. That first drink caused them to drink excessively and black out. That is not the norm. Stories of DWI’s, broken relationships, divorce, lost jobs.

I have listened to people tell their stories of pain, loss, shame, desperation. And then I heard them say how their lives were changed by AA. How their lives are unimaginably more beautiful since getting sober. I have heard them talk about their struggles – how sometimes it’s not day by day, but hour by hour or maybe minute by minute.

I have listened to talk of cravings, calls to sponsors, meetings. Sometimes we laughed, sometimes there were tears in our eyes. But throughout it all is a message of hope. And caring. And concern. And acceptance.

“AA is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted, under grace, into spiritual progress.”

As I listened to people thank their alcoholism for bringing them to AA and the beauty that comes from being sober, I have been humbled – humbled by their honesty, their faith, their self-awareness, their strength, their grace. And being humbled is a good thing. It makes me appreciate what I have and what I’ve learned.